


ribs

by mialulu



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Childhood Friends, First Kiss, Fluff, Getting Together, M/M, Tsukiyama - Freeform, also i added a cute oc, tsukishima likes yamaguchis ribs, yes this is based off ribs by lorde
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-18
Updated: 2021-02-18
Packaged: 2021-03-13 08:07:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,769
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29523390
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mialulu/pseuds/mialulu
Summary: Kei likes Tadashi's ribs.
Relationships: Tsukishima Kei/Yamaguchi Tadashi
Comments: 10
Kudos: 120





	ribs

**Author's Note:**

> i awoke in a cold sweat one night and was hit with an epiphany -- i had to write a tsukiyama fic based off of ribs by lorde.
> 
> i did. so. here it is. i hope you enjoy my first published fic!

**i.**

**this dream isn’t feeling sweet**

**we’re reeling through the midnight streets**

**and i’ve never felt more alone**

**it feels so scary getting old**

  
  


Kei learned how to ride a bike at a very young age.

Mostly because he had an older brother, he felt like he was taught things like that pretty early (his brother also contributed heavily to his academic intelligence). So, when Kei was only six years old, he was able to get on a bike -- without training wheels -- and ride around his neighborhood alongside Akiteru.

(Kei was really awful at balancing at first due to his height being abnormally above average at such a young age for such a tiny bike. He eventually got it down)

At age eight, Kei met Yamaguchi. About seven months later, after hanging out at Yamaguchi’s house nearly weekly, Kei finally invited Yamaguchi to his own home, which Yamaguchi's eyes sparkled in excitement.

So, when Yamaguchi saw that there was a bike propped up in the hallway of Tsukishima’s house, he gasped, “You have a bike?!”

Kei almost flinched at the abrupt excitement. “Yes?” he responds.

“That’s so cool!” Yamaguchi exclaims. “Can you ride it, Tsukki?”

“Of course I can ride it,” Kei says, not wanting to show off, but  _ yes _ , wanting to show off.

Yamaguchi’s eyes lit up even more, if possible. “Can you show me?” he asks.

So, Kei and his friend ended up out in the street, where Kei swings his legs over his blue bike and starts pedaling away from Yamaguchi, turns around, and pedals back. 

“That’s so cool! Can I try?” Yamaguchi asks the taller boy.

Kei looks up in thought. He really doesn’t think it’s a great idea, because it took him about three months to learn how to ride a bike. Even then, he was only six, and falling was a significantly less big of a deal than it probably would be now. They’re older, so falling might cause more damage than six year olds that are used to crying and bouncing right back up.

“Okay, but let me get my brother first,” he settles on, and waits for Yamaguchi to smile and nod excessively before going inside to fetch Akiteru.

That day, the Tsukishimas spent quite a long time holding the sides of the bike (and Yamaguchi) up to keep him from completely falling over, especially since Yamaguchi was at least four inches shorter than Kei, so his feet barely even touched the ground when he sat down.

When they get back inside, Kei explains, “It would probably be way easier if you had your own. Your feet should be able to touch the ground.”

“Tsukki, would you be mad if I asked for a bike for my birthday this year?”

“Why would I be mad?”

“I don’t want to copy you!”

“Idiot.”

\--

In a few more months, on November tenth, Yamaguchi receives a bike as a gift from his parents for his ninth birthday.

He quickly brought it over to Kei’s house the next day, and when he showed it to him for the first time, he kept his mouth completely shut, his lips trembling in utter pride and excitement.

Kei looks down at it and huffs a small laugh, thinking that if Yamaguchi were a bike, it would definitely be this one. It was pastel yellow, and the wheels had brown rims, and there was a basket and a ring on the front handles. It contrasted heavily to Kei’s, which was dark blue and black with gears and hand breaks on the handles. He didn’t think it fit him personally as well, but Yamaguchi’s sure did. The contrast was cool.

So, that day was basically dedicated to Yamaguchi figuring out how to ride his bike, now that when he got uncomfortable he could place his feet on the ground, and he could use the pedals as breaks rather than the handles on Kei’s. He still freaked out every time Kei would let go of the bike as a joke, whereas Kei would laugh and just grab hold again so he wouldn’t fall. 

After about an hour of shaky steering and riding wobbly, Yamaguchi says, “Okay, I want to try on my own.”

Kei is thinking that he probably shouldn’t, but he steps away anyways and allows Yamaguchi to try to bike alone. 

“Don’t fall,” Kei says. Yamaguchi nods determinedly. Kei almost laughs at his scrunched up face.

Well, he did end up falling, but passed with only a scrape on his elbow and a single tear. It could’ve been worse, they both decide.

\--

Only a month later, Kei and Yamaguchi go to Akiteru’s volleyball game for the first time.

That night, Kei walks in on his brother crying.

He shuts the door as silently as possible, speed walks down the hallway, and goes outside. It’s dark out. It had just finished pouring, but there was still thunder brewing in the sky, and lightning transferred between clouds every few minutes. The concrete was slick and wet, and there were puddles in the potholes in the roads.

Kei grabs his bike and rides to Yamaguchi’s house.

When he arrives, he rings the doorbell.

Thankfully, Yamaguchi answers the door. Good for Kei, because he had never been good at talking to adults.

Yamaguchi’s face falls a bit when he sees him, instantly making an uncomfortable feeling settle in Kei’s stomach. He didn’t want to be reminded of the events of earlier that day. 

“Tsukki?” Yamaguchi asks.

Kei grips his bike handles at his side and says, “Will you bike to the store with me?”

Yamaguchi’s eyebrows knit together. “It’s storming, though,” he mumbles.

“No, it’s not,” Kei says. 

Thunder crackles in the sky. Kei clicks his tongue.

“It’s fine, you shouldn’t be scared,” he settles on, instead.

“But the roads are wet, too, and it’s really dark.”

“ _ Yamaguchi _ ,” Kei says, getting increasingly annoyed. No, he didn’t mean to be annoyed at Yamaguchi. Yamaguchi was the only person that didn’t annoy him. He just hadn’t been upset at it all day, he was trying not to be upset at all, and now it was coming out at the wrong time.

Yamaguchi’s face still looks really nervous, his freckles looking deformed because of the way his face is scrunched up. Still, looking up at Kei, he nods, going back into his house to put on his shoes.

“Parents aren’t home?” Kei asks, because usually Yamaguchi would have to consult his parents before going outside.

While Yamaguchi slips on his sneakers, he shakes his head. Kei hums.

Yamaguchi closes the door behind him and grabs his bike from the side of his house, then joins Kei in the street, where his legs are already mantled onto his bike. Yamaguchi is obviously scared, but he gets on his bike wordlessly and begins following Kei towards the store a few blocks away.

Yamaguchi, having only been riding a bike for a month, stays several yards behind Kei while they ride, but Kei can still hear Yamaguchi whimper every time the sky lights up with electricity.

They get to a hill, and suddenly, Kei is going downhill, very fast, feeling the wind almost push his skin back.

He almost cries.

He was upset. He was really upset. He hated the feeling, but letting his legs fall limp on the pedals as gravity took him downhill, sometimes splashing him with cool puddles on the road, he felt kind of free.

Then, it’s over, and he has to make a quick turn at the end of the hill towards the store.

And then, “Tsukki, I can’t!”

Then, he heard a loud thud, the sound of a bike falling, and suddenly, Kei wants to cry even more. 

His heart rate picks up erratically as he skids to a stop, jumps off of his bike, letting it fall in the road, and starts running towards the sound. “Yamaguchi!” he yells.

He finds Yamaguchi in a nearby bush, his bike tangled up in the leaves, as is his body. Kei leans into the branches and wet leaves and pulls Yamaguchi out, then sits him on the sidewalk in front of it.

Yamaguchi is already full on sobbing, the right side of his body soaking wet as he shakes with sobs and cold.

“Come on, let’s go home,” Kei says hurriedly, grabbing at Yamaguchi’s left arm and trying to pull him up. 

“I-It hurts, Tsukki,” he says, and his voice is heart-breakingly in pain.

“I know, but we have to get home so you can feel better, let’s go,” he says, pulling harder.

Yamaguchi relents and stands up with Kei’s help, and Kei hooks Yamaguchi’s arm around his shoulder (which is extremely uncomfortable for both of them, because of the height difference) and starts walking unsteadily back to Yamaguchi’s house.

Kei knew Yamaguchi was inexperienced. Kei knew Yamaguchi was scared. He knew the roads were slippery. He knew there was a sharp turn down there. 

This was his fault. All Kei’s fault.

By the time they got back home, Yamaguchi was no longer crying, just sniffling dramatically every few seconds. That was good, at least.

Kei sat Yamaguchi on the edge of his bed once they got back to Yamaguchi’s house, then went to the bathroom to find some bandages and sanitizing wipes in the cabinets before going back to Yamaguchi.

Kei sits criss cross in front of his friend, who’s wiping aggressively at his eyes before looking down at Kei on the floor.

“Okay, where does it hurt?” Kei asks.

Yamaguchi sniffles and lifts an arm to point to the right side of his rib cage. Kei leans forward and grabs at the bottom hem of his shirt with a ridiculous cartoon character on it, then peers under to examine the skin on his side.

Kei lets out a sound in some form of shock, which was obviously the wrong thing to do, because Yamaguchi gasps, then whimpers, and asks, “Can you see my insides?!”

“No!” Kei says back, his face squirming in discomfort at the thought. “You’re fine, there’s just a little blood.”

“Blood?!”

“You’re fine, I said,” Kei repeats himself. He gestures to the shirt in his hand and says, “Hold,” which Yamaguchi does.

Now, as Yamaguchi holds up his shirt so Kei has access to his rib cage, Kei takes the sanitizing wipes in his hand and starts wiping at the small two inch gash on the side of Yamaguchi’s ribs.

“It stings.” Yamaguchi sounds like he’s going to cry again.

“That’s the point,” Kei says. “That means it’s cleaning the wound.”

“Really?”

Kei nods.

While Kei wipes it, dries it, and starts to bandage it in complete silence, his mind eats at him.

He was upset, and he seeked comfort in Yamaguchi, and he got him hurt. He felt like, in a way, he lost his brother today. At least, nothing would ever be the same again. What if he did that to Yamaguchi?

Say something, idiot, his brain is telling him. 

“Yamaguchi,” Kei says, nudging Yamaguchi’s hand down, indicating he can let his shirt go back to normal. Yamaguchi returns his shirt back down over his stomach.

“I’m…”

Kei isn’t very good at this.

“I’m sorry.”

Yamaguchi stares at him for a moment, until a soft smile grows on his face. “It’s okay, Tsukki. I know you were upset, so I wanted to help you feel better, even though I was scared.”

Little Kei is thinking that he never, ever wants to lose Yamaguchi, and that he’s all he needs.

“My ribs are pretty tough, aren’t they?” Yamaguchi asks, poking his left side, where there wasn’t damage caused.

Kei isn’t sure himself why he does it, but he leans forward in his place on the ground and knocks his head against Yamaguchi’s ribs.

“T-Tsukki?” Yamaguchi asks.

Kei stifles a laugh as he lifts his head up and says, “Yeah, pretty tough.”

Kei likes Yamaguchi’s ribs, he decides, because they protected him from Kei’s mistakes.

**ii.**

**i want em back**

**the minds we had**

**how all the thoughts**

**moved around our heads**

**i want em back**

**the minds we had**

**it’s not enough to feel the lack**

**i want em back i want em back i want em…**

  
  
  


Kei realized from a young age that he wasn’t all that interested in girls.

It wasn’t really a sudden epiphany, it had always been like that. Well, to be fair, he wasn’t all that interested in anyone, but he knew he wasn’t girl-obsessed like the other boys in his class.

Although, there was one specific instance he can remember pretty vividly.

When he was in kindergarten, girls seemed to like him. 

He didn’t really have any friends, and he didn’t really want them, anyways, because he had Akiteru. Maybe it was the lack of affection from his parents, but he wasn’t all that great at communication, and such. 

So, when he was swinging on the monkey bars at six years old, having to lift his long legs so they wouldn’t touch the ground, he felt a tap on his leg. This was weird, because the monkey bars were basically the designated spot for loners at recess, and he and the other few kids there collectively (silently) agreed that they wouldn’t ever speak to each other. So, he looks down and sees a boy -- no, a girl with short hair; his eyesight hadn’t been too hot recently -- and furrows his eyebrows at her. He lets his body fall to the mulch beneath his feet as he stares down at the girl.

“Tsuk’sh’ma,” the girl says, smiling up at him, “will you be my Valentine?”

Ah, yeah, today was Valentine’s Day, and they got candy because of it in class.

“It’s Tsukishima,” he corrects.

“Tsuk’sh’ma.”

His eyebrow twitches.

“So? Will you be my Valentine?” Kei notices now that her face is bright red, and she looks like she’s about to cry. Why is she so nervous?

“No, thank you,” he says, getting ready to walk away.

She grabs hold of his arm, and he glares back at her. “B-But I want you to be my boyfriend!”

Little Kei thinks, what’s the difference between a boy friend and just a friend? Why did she add the word boy in front? So, he says, “Sure,” just to get rid of her. He didn’t really want to be her friend, but it would have to do.

She lights up, smiling brightly, and suddenly, her lips are puckered, and she’s leaning towards Kei with her eyes closed.

Kei gasps and puts a hand on her face, pushing her away from him. “What are you doing, weirdo?” he exclaims, holding her back at a safe distance. 

“I fought you woulb be my boyfwiend,” she says, while Kei’s hand is still squishing her mouth away from him.

“Never mind, leave me alone,” he says, takes his hand off of her, and walks away.

\--

Kei is reminded of that instance the next Valentine’s Day, and the next, and the next, and the next, and the next…

And here he is, in his first year of high school, immediately reminded of it the second Yamaguchi says, “Happy Valentine’s Day, Tsukki!” while they’re walking to school.

Kei furrows his eyebrows. “That’s today?” he asks.

“Yes,” Yamaguchi laughs. “Why do I have to remind you every year?”

“Because you want to ruin my day.”

Yamaguchi laughs more and leaves it at that as they walk into the schoolyard. 

Yamaguchi has always liked Valentine’s Day, god knows why. It was possibly Kei’s least favorite day of the entire year, but Yamaguchi tried to explain his love for it as the “happiness in the air.”

Whatever the hell that means, Kei will never know, because instead, he’s gotten confessed to almost every. Single. Year.

“I wonder if you’ll get chocolates this year, too,” Yamaguchi says.

Kei feels annoyance bubbling in his stomach already. “Hopefully not.”

Well, he definitely hoped, but the second he walked into class with Yamaguchi, he spots a box of chocolates on his desk in the middle of the room.

Kei clicks his tongue.

“No way!” Yamaguchi says, scampering towards it and examining it as Kei slowly follows behind him. Yamaguchi was always at least five levels more excited than Kei ever was about his gifts on Valentine’s Day, probably because he had the honor of eating the chocolates when Kei refused to.

Yamaguchi pulls his chair up next to his desk and examines the note left for him while the people around them look at what Kei had received on his desk. 

Yamaguchi turns the note towards Kei’s face and says, “It’s from Misaki in class two. Do you know her?”

Kei probably does, but because he can’t put a name to a face, he lazily shakes his head instead. Yamaguchi laughs. Settling in his chair, Yamaguchi picks up the box of chocolates, looks to Kei for permission, and asks, “Can I?”

Kei nods and pulls his headphones over his ears, trying to drown out the stares he’s getting with noise in his ears.

\--

After class ends, Kei and Yamaguchi walk down the hallway to the vending machines, Yamaguchi wordlessly munching on Valentine's chocolates by his side.

Out of nowhere, orange and black mops of hair are suddenly in front of them, and one of them is suddenly pointing and yelling (very loudly, FYI), “Did you get a confession, Yamaguchi?!”

“Can you keep your voice down?” Kei hisses at the shorter boy in annoyance.

“No, no, these are Tsukki’s!” Yamaguchi explains, waving his hand.

Nobody says anything for a second, and Kageyama and Hinata are blinking at Kei like fish out of water, and then the two say at the same time, “ _ You _ got confessed to?”

Kei rolls his eyes. He couldn’t even give back some snarky comment, because, truthfully, he wasn’t sure why he was popular with girls, either. Maybe it was his height. If that were the case, women had extremely low standards.

“Yes, duffuses. Now would you move out of the way?”

The duo move to the opposite side of Yamaguchi, and the first years walk together through the hallway. Kei is so agitated at the fact that their group is taking up almost the entire hallway that he almost shoves Hinata into the wall.

“That’s so not fair!” Hinata exclaims. “Well, did you say yes?”

“Do I  _ look  _ like I said yes?” Kei asks, narrowing his eyes at Hinata as he peers around Yamaguchi.

“Did you?!”

Kei sighs. Hinata had to be so out of touch with his brain cells, it was ridiculous. “No, I didn’t.”

“Tsukki didn’t even know who this girl was. Plus, she just left the chocolates and left,” Yamaguchi explains, examining a piece of chocolate and then plopping it into his mouth.

“She’s probably scared of you,” Hinata says, crossing his arms over his chest.

“Then why would she confess, idiot?” Kageyama asks from beside him.

“Maybe she’s into that!” Hinata defends.

“Um, Tsukishima-san?”

All four boys look forward to see a girl standing in front of them, her cheeks red and her fingers entangled with each other in nerves.

“Um, I’m Misaki, I left the chocolates on your desk this morning,” she mumbles, looking between him and the other three boys. Hinata looks absolutely dumbfounded. Yamaguchi fwips the box of chocolates behind his back, quickly swallowing what was in his mouth. He looks terrified. Kei tries not to laugh.

“Guys, let’s go!” Hinata grabs at Kageyama and Yamaguchi’s arms and drags them down the hallway, leaving Kei and the girl awkwardly standing there.

After a few moments of terrible silence, the girl says, “Um, so… I was wondering if you were going to accept or not?”

Kei examines her. She’s pretty, and has long eyelashes and faint lipgloss on her lips. She’s also a decent height, not super short, like Hinata, or the other girls in the grade.

“Uh, right,” Kei says, trying to conjure up a sentence that didn’t make him sound like a  _ complete  _ dick. “I’m not really interested,” he says, “sorry,” he adds.

The girl looks disappointed, and she sighs, but at least she’s not crying. With a small laugh, she says, “Yeah, I figured. I saw you and Yachi-san walking together the other day, I just figured I would give it a try.”

“Ya--” Kei blurts, his eyes widening. He gapes at her. 

That felt incredibly wrong to even think about in his head.

Thankfully, the hallway had cleared around them, so it was just them now. “No, I- Yachi-san is just the volleyball manager. I meant I’m not interested in  _ any  _ girl.”

She stares at him, furrows her eyebrows, and then they shoot to the top of her forehead instantly. “Oh! Oh, you mean…” her face flushes red, and she looks in just about every direction awkwardly. “Oh, I’m really sorry, I didn’t know. I won’t tell anyone.”

Kei raises an eyebrow, now ultimately confused at her antics. “What?”

“You’re g-gay, right?” she asks, and then she walks towards him, pats his shoulder, and smiles up at him. “I totally support you! I’ll keep your secret!”

Then, she walks away.

\--

Kei was flabbergasted, to say the least.

He felt like a confused look was permanently etched on his face for the rest of the day, and the word was floating around his head until he got home that night.

He was home alone; the house was dark when he walked in, and it was dead silent when he got in his room and settled on his bed.

He grabbed his laptop, opened it, and stared at the screen.

He really hated that he was even considering this right now, but was he gay? He had never been interested in girls. He knew that, and he was pretty sure everyone knew that. That doesn’t mean he’s interested in boys, though, right?

Besides, when Kei thought of “gay men” he thought about men wearing rainbow croptops with loud, feminine voices and insane rays of confidence. Maybe even wore heels and did their makeup. It’s not like he was bothered by it, but  _ he  _ certainly didn’t fit into the category.

There is definitely one way to find out.

He takes a deep, shaky breath, and stares at the  _ G  _ on the keyboard. He lifts his finger, stares at it for a little longer, and slowly brings it down.

His phone dings, and he physically flinches, almost jumping out of his skin. He pulls his phone out of his pocket and stares at the screen.

Yamaguchi:

hey, are you feeling okay? you just seemed a little off today,, lmk if you need anything!! 

Kei exhales extremely sharply, puts his phone down, and stares at his laptop. Shuts it. Throws it on the floor. 

No. Jesus Christ, no. He is not watching gay porn. Absolutely. Fucking. Not.

\--

He felt like the way his brain worked had completely changed overnight. He started noticing things he wished he wasn’t noticing. Like, how Yamaguchi smiled at him when he said good morning, and how their hands sometimes brushed together when they walked side by side.

It was drizzling this morning, so Tsukishima couldn’t wear his headphones as they walked side by side.

“Hey, wanna sleep over Friday? We can watch the new Jujutsu Kaisen episode on the new T.V. in my room,” Yamaguchi says, taking a bite of his granola bar. Yamaguchi often woke up late, so Kei always brought a granola bar in his lunch to give it to him in the mornings, knowing Yamaguchi was starving without breakfast. Kei brushed it off that he coincidentally brought it, but he figures that they both know Kei doesn’t even like them, and buys them at the store solely for Yamaguchi to eat.

Kei hums to confirm that yes, he does want to sleep over on Friday. 

“Who’s your favorite character, Tsukki?” Yamaguchi asks in between chews.

Kei thinks for a second, then softly laughs, knowing what he says will get a reaction out of Yamaguchi. “Mahito.”

True to his guess, Yamaguchi gasps. “Tsukki! You’re kidding!” Kei shakes his head. Yamaguchi laughs. “You’re terrible.”

After a bit of silence, he asks, “Well? Who’s yours?”

Yamaguchi looks up in thought for a second, then says, “Well, I like Nanami,” and somewhere within the pathways of his brain, Kei makes the connection that both him and Nanami from Jujutsu Kaisen are both quiet, agitated blondes with glasses, “but I also like Maki,” and, shit, the neurons in his brain also connect that Maki is also tall with glasses.

“I like Mai,” Kei says, because, although he would never admit it, he can see himself in her.

“But Maki is so much stronger!” Yamaguchi says.

Kei rolls his eyes. “So?”

They get into the schoolyard, and suddenly, Yamaguchi is standing in front of him, and there’s a hand reaching towards Kei’s face. He freezes as Yamaguchi stares in focus, holds his breath when Yamaguchi brushes his pointer finger along his cheekbone, under his glasses, then turns away with a flush. “Sorry, Tsukki. Eyelash.” Yamaguchi blows what Kei guesses is the eyelash off of his finger, and feels like he can breathe again.

\--

He can not believe he’s fucking doing this.

He stares at the inside of his locker in absolute utter shame, mentally preparing himself for what he had been planning on doing at the back of his head.

It was either this or porn, he decides, takes a deep breath, and pulls his head out of his locker.

Practice had just finished, meaning everyone was busy in the club room changing. 

Kei had always felt awkward changing in front of everyone else, but people like Hinata and Nishinoya made him surprisingly more comfortable in his own body, since they would jump around without their shirts on all the time, and both of them were rather scrawny.

Kei knew he didn’t have the greatest body; he was relatively scrawny since he had probably the smallest stomach out of everyone on the team, and the only bulk he had was thin muscle, rather than any fat. He didn’t really like it. He thought it looked weird. Plus, he had some stretch marks from going from 5’7” to 6’2” in less than two years, and he wasn’t exactly fond of them.

“What’s your workout routine, Daichi?” Tanaka asks while the second and third years change on the other side of the room. 

Kei lets his eyes float towards them, where most of them are examining Daichi’s muscles as he takes his shirt off. “I just go to the gym three times a week,” Daichi says, shrugging.

Christ, Kei can literally see his muscles flex as he shrugs.

He can’t say he’s attracted to them, though, it’s more of a what the fuck how is he built like that. 

Okay, then, who was objectively the most attractive person on the team? Kei thinks about it for a second before absolutely miserably admitting to himself he knew exactly who it was.

He turns his head subtly to the opposite side of the club room to where the boy in question almost always changed alone in the corner next to Hinata. 

Hinata rips his shirt over his head, gets it stuck over his face, and is grunting as he squirms around, bumping into the boy beside him.

Kageyama looks over in annoyance and slaps Hinata’s back with the shirt in his hand. His muscles flex as he yells, “Dumbass! It’s not that hard to undress!”

Thank god Kageyama was distracted, so Kei could rake his eyes over his shirtless body. 

Kei is almost angry at how perfect Kageyama’s body proportions are. He’s pretty much the perfect height, too, not freakishly tall like Kei, so his torso is a good size, and Kei can see through his shorts that his legs are nicely toned, too. And he has abs! Not too much muscle, though. Kageyama did have a nice body.

Okay, so maybe Kei can appreciate it a little bit, but Kageyama was… Kageyama. He would rather die than have to be intimate with him in literally any way.

Kei figures, his face is actually objectively attractive, too, so he looks up at Kageyama’s face and holy shit god dammit he’s looking at Kei with a raised eyebrow and a confused look.

“Why are you looking at--”

“I’m not. Shut the fuck up,” Kei says, turning away and slamming his locker shut. 

He sighs, trying not to feel like an ultimate fucking creep and turns back to Yamaguchi, who’s taking his shirt off by his side.

Kei hadn’t even meant for his eyes to wonder, really. But the second he looks down at Yamaguchi’s stomach, stretched to take his shirt off over his head, his ribs poking out at the arch.

Kei sucks in a deep breath.

He can see his ribs a bit, even when he’s returned to standing normally, grabbing a new shirt from his bag to change into. Kei is staring now. His torso is so thin, Kei is surprised, even though he’s seen Yamaguchi shirtless countless times. This felt different. His brain felt different. He felt hyper aware of his thoughts now.

And as Yamaguchi arches his back again to put a new shirt over his head, his ribs poke out a bit, and Kei is struck with the word “attraction.” 

And oh, he has freckles on his ribs, too.

Kei likes Yamaguchi’s ribs. He likes to look at them.

Kei learns two things in his first year of high school.

One: it’s okay to be passionate about something, and it’s okay to try.

Two: he’s gay (specifically for his best friend).

He wishes he hadn’t.

**iii.**

**you’re the only friend i need**

**sharing beds like little kids**

**and laughing til our ribs get tough**

**but that will never be enough**

  
  
  


Yamaguchi planned a beach trip with the volleyball team in their third year of high school.

When discussing with the rest of the third years, they all seemed to think it was a great idea (Hinata and Kageyama, especially. Something about the sand got them all hot and bothered…), whereas Kei was… a bit reluctant. They had done one their first year, too, and Kei discovered he strongly disliked the beach way more when he had to go with his volleyball team.

Kei had never been a beach child, really. The first time he went, he almost passed out because of the heat, and ended up crying while hiding from the sun under a towel and an umbrella. He didn’t do well in heat. He also despised sand. It’s itchy, it gets everywhere, it’s hard to move in, and makes his skin all red. Yamaguchi figured, in their first year, that Kei probably had a slight allergy to sand.

He also hated the ocean. He would never admit it to anyone (except Yamaguchi when he was in sixth grade), but he was pretty terrified of the ocean. There was an entire realm of sea creatures below them where scientists couldn’t even explore, it was so deep, and the water pressure was so high. And above that, the ocean was so vast, in all of their research, only 5% of the ocean has truly been explored. Kei was almost positive megalodons still existed, and was also pretty sure miniature fish would crawl into his ears if he got in.

Again, he would never admit it to  _ anyone _ .

Also, his skin was pretty frail and sensitive, so the salt of the ocean dried his skin out really quickly, and the salt made it sting. He also sunburns easily.

Anyways, the message is, he hates the beach.

He almost feels betrayed while on the bus ride there, facing the window with his headphones on, purposefully ignoring Yamaguchi beside him.

The bus ride was bustling with noise of the second years, their excitement practically seeping into Kei’s headphones. Thankfully, the group of first years they received this year were relatively calm, shy, actually, and Kei could not have been more grateful that they sat side by side while only mumbling to each other.

“You’re mad at me,” Yamaguchi says, not in a serious tone; he knew Kei wasn’t  _ seriously  _ mad.

Kei narrows his eyes further at the window.

Yamaguchi laughs a bit and nudges him lightly with his elbow. “Come on, Tsukki! I brought a lot of aloe products, you’ll be fine,” he assures.

“Oh!” Yachi’s head pops up in front of them as she peeks over the back of her seat. “I have a lot of moisturizer, too, Tsukishima! The sand really messes up my skin.”

Another head pops up next to her, and their eyes flick over to the younger girl. “Mhm! Me, too!” she adds.

Kei almost laughs. He couldn’t deny the fact that he enjoyed the new girl’s presence. She tended to suck up a lot -- especially to him.

  
  


Yuno Chiaki was the first year Manager-In-Training, and had joined the team about a month and a half ago. Kei was worried, at first, he’s pretty sure everyone was, because he couldn’t see Yachi picking a girl that was any more confident than her, but Yuno was doing a great job. She’s kind of sassy, and an airhead sometimes, but she gets along with everyone really well (besides the first year Taichi, who has a massive crush on her).

Plus, she really looked up to Kei.

“Thanks,” Kei says to the girls, who both nod vigorously before their heads duck down as they return to their seats.

“You and Yuno get along well, huh?” Yamaguchi asks, quietly, making sure the girls in front of them couldn’t hear him.

Kei raises an eyebrow. “Yeah.”

“She practically idolizes you. You could consider her a friend, right?”

Yamaguchi had always been adamant on Kei making more friends, and Kei knew he was just trying to be nice (and didn’t want Kei to be lonely, because Yamaguchi was getting more and more busy with captain work), but he didn’t like it.

“I don’t need other friends,” Kei says, eyes training on the window again.

The “ _ All I need is you _ ” goes unsaid, but Kei is pretty sure the words linger in the air anyways.

After a bit, Yamaguchi nudges Kei again and points at the seat besides them, across the aisle, where Kageyama and Hinata are sitting, playing Ninja in their seats. 

Kei and Yamaguchi watch as Kageyama slaps Hinata across the face, and Hinata exclaims, “Idiot! You’re only supposed to hit my arms!”

“I know, I just felt like hitting you,” Kageyama responds, looking away from his face and trying -- and failing -- to conceal a laugh. Kei and Yamaguchi start laughing, too.

Moments like these relieve Kei. Even though Hinata and Kageyama look different -- Kageyama’s hair is much shorter which, Kei thinks is not a good look, and Hinata’s hair is much messier and longer --, and act different ( _ different _ for Kei means _ grown up _ , but he hates that idea), they’re still the same as when he first met them. Idiots.

“We’re here!” Ukai yells from the driver's seat, and Kei and Yamaguchi stand up, grabbing the bags at their feet and launching them over their shoulders. While the second years run off of the bus first, Kei and Yamaguchi wait patiently for their turn to get off of the bus.

Kei glances down at Yamaguchi. Their size gap is continuing to grow, which shouldn’t relieve Kei as much as it does. Around his first year, when Yamaguchi had a growth spurt, he was almost scared Yamaguchi was going to catch up with him. Now, Yamaguchi was basically done growing, and Kei continued to grow, now at 6’3”.

The two of them had also been growing their hair out, so Yamaguchi’s hair was long enough to put in a small ponytail behind his ears, if he tried, but was straight and shaggy. Kei’s was fluffy enough to add volume, and Yamaguchi sometimes ruffled it like a dog. Kei liked it (obviously),

The second they step off of the bus, he can smell the saltiness in the breeze. It’s only a day trip, so they got to the Inn around 9:00 AM, meaning Yamaguchi had surely missed breakfast. He would definitely need to eat something before they went into the water.

\--

Eventually, after laying their bags down, taking turns changing into their swimsuits, they finally make their way to the actual beach, the second years running down and ripping their shirts off, practically diving into the water.

Kei could already feel the sun beating down onto his shoulders through his t-shirt, and his face fell even flatter than it was before. 

“Yachi, wanna race me and Kageyama down to the water?” Hinata excitedly asks as he takes his shirt off and lets it fall in the sand.

“What? I--”

“Idiot, who said we were racing?” Kageyama asks, but also takes his shirt off in preparation.

“Yacchan, let’s do it!” Yuno says, getting in a running position (and leaving her shirt on).

“Three, two, one!” Hinata says, and the four of them start running while giggling wildly. Kei and Yamaguchi watch as Kageyama trips Hinata and he falls face forward in the sand, causing practically the entire team to burst into laughter. 

Hinata gets up and runs to tackle Kageyama into the shallow end of the water, and Kei cringes at how sandy the boys must be right now.

Yamaguchi takes his shirt off, then looks up at Kei slowly, carefully, as a mischievous smile grows on his face. His hands snake towards Kei’s, grabbing hold of it with both hands and starts lurring him towards the water.

“Come on, Tsukki,” Yamaguchi grins.

“Yamaguchi,” Kei glares, but doesn’t resist as his feet start moving forward with Yamaguchi’s pull towards the water.  _ Don’t look at his body, don’t look at his body, don’t look at his bo-- _

“Tsukki…” he smirks.

“ _ Yamaguchi _ .”

“ _ Kei _ ,” Yamaguchi says, and smiles like he knows he’s won. Yamaguchi is evil.  _ Tadashi, Tadashi, Tadashi _ , Kei thinks. He wants to say his name.

Obviously, he did, in fact, win.

Kei takes off his shirt, nicely folding it and placing it on top of Yamaguchi’s crumpled one on the sand, trying to minimize the amount of sand he gets on it. He also takes his glasses off and rests them on top.

“Hurry, hurry! The first years beat us!” Yamaguchi ushers, pushing him along towards the water. Kei ignores the heat on his back where Yamaguchi’s hands are.

When Kei slowly, carefully tries to get into the ocean without shaking in fear, thinking about the ocean bugs that are going to crawl through his pores, he feels salty, ocean water suddenly hit his face, and he wants to die.

He looks up, squints, but doesn’t even need perfect eyesight to see that it’s Hinata standing waist deep in the water, splashing Tsukishima with lots of force, saying, “Come on, Tsukishima! You’re not scared, are you?”

Kei’s face scrunches up in annoyance and he smirks smugly before stepping in towards Hinata, putting a hand on his hair, and shoving him under the water. 

“Get him, Tsukishima!” Yuno cheers, pushing the wet curls that fell out of her braid out of her face. Kei grins.

“Everybody get Hinata!” Kusuo, possibly the most energetic second year, yells, and then four boys are clinging to Hinata’s shoulders and arms, trying to push him under.

_ Well _ , Kei thinks,  _ this isn’t awful _ .

\--

God, yes, it  _ was  _ awful.

Kei’s face and shoulders were burning and stinging every time he made a facial expression or his shirt rubbed against him, which was practically  _ all the time _ . 

Kei and Yamaguchi eat dinner next to each other at a table of the Inn, Kei’s silence proving that he was not in a great mood. Hinata and Kageyama sit across from him, Yachi pulled up in a seat beside Kageyama and Tsukishima. 

“How are you feeling, Tsukishima-san?” Yachi asks quietly as they all enjoy a comfortable silence as they eat.

Kei narrows his eyes further at his small plate of food, not even being able to scrunch his face up as much as he wants due to the stinging of his tender cheeks.

“Tsukishima gets quiet when he’s in a bad mood,” Hinata says with his mouth full of rice.

“Swallow before you talk,” Kei says, taking a bite of his curry.

Yamaguchi softly puts a hand on his back and rubs his thumb over his spine. Kei feels his face get even hotter, if possible. He feels Yamaguchi’s warm hand on his back, and the small action is so comforting, somehow, just casually doing it in front of their other friends, that Kei almost wants to shut his eyes in content.

“We’ll put the aloe on after dinner,” Yamaguchi says, smiling softly at him, and Kei looks at his pretty eyes and nods back.

Then, he is suddenly really aware at how silent and how awkward the atmosphere of their small table had gotten, and he looks back up at Kageyama, Hinata, and Yachi, both just staring at them with wide eyes and open lips.

“ _ What _ ?” Kei snaps.

Kageyama coughs, Hinata clears his throat, and Yachi hums as they all continue eating.

\--

Yamaguchi and Kei find their way to the bathroom after dinner, because they really did not want to do this in front of the entire team, and Kei takes his shirt off and sits down on a towel Yamaguchi set down on the tile of the floor, and watches as Yamaguchi dips his finger into whatever the hell the aloe mixture in the container was. 

Yamaguchi gingerly places his fingers on Kei’s right shoulder first, rubbing the cool gel all over his sunburn, and Kei’s body relaxes and unwinds as he enjoys the coolness against his skin. 

“Feel good?” Yamaguchi asks. Kei hums and nods, shutting his eyes.

After his shoulders, he feels Yamaguchi take his glasses off of his face, rubbing the aloe along his cheeks, now.

Kei felt so comfortable with Yamaguchi. Always. Yamaguchi had been his only friend for ten years, yes, but there was something else between him that made him think that it could only ever be Yamaguchi. Would anyone else bring aloe for him on a trip because he knew he got sunburnt easily? Would anyone care enough to? Would Kei ever pack extra snacks because he knew Yamaguchi got hungry in the mornings when he slept in? Would anyone else apply aloe to his burns without him asking? Would anyone else take his glasses off for him to cool his cheeks down?

Yamaguchi puts his glasses back on his face, and Kei opens his eyes.

Oh. They’re incredibly close. They’re staring at each other. Kei’s eyes flicker to his lips, sharply takes in a breath, instantly feels guilty, and painfully stands up. “We should get back,” he says, and waits for Yamaguchi to clean up before they go back to the room together.

\--

Yamaguchi is:

  1. A very heavy sleeper.
  2. A cuddler.



Kei knows this; when they have sleepovers, they usually just share a bed, and Kei always ends up somehow being gripped by Yamaguchi, much to his disdain. 

So, it’s not that he’s surprised when he wakes up the next morning, having nearly the entire team looking down at him, giggling with their phones out.

(This was not the first time this happened. In fact, at a training camp earlier in the year, they had all seen it for the first time, Taichi saying, “Who knew the captain would be a clingy sleeper?” Akira responds, “Are you surprised? Yamaguchi-san is so nice!”)

“I’m going to throw your phone against a wall, set it on fire, flush it down a toilet, smash it with a hammer, and then ship it to Idaho,” Kei says sleepily, squinting at Hinata, who has his phone in his face.

Hinata grins cheekily and says, “We all know you’ll stay like that until he wakes up. You’re soft, Tsukishima!”

(Kageyama then whispers to Hinata _Is Idaho in Japan?_ and Hinata shrugs.)

Relatively speaking, Kei was pretty sure he was hard, actually, he just prayed to fuck that nobody else could tell. 

“Shut the hell up,” he glares, and eventually, Hinata ushers the rest of the team to follow him to breakfast.

When everyone is gone, he sighs and looks down. Yamaguchi is halfway onto his chest, his face squished into the center of it, breathing deeply as drool leaks onto Kei’s shirt. An arm was draped over his stomach and gripping the  _ shit  _ out of Kei’s shirt, and thank  _ god  _ their legs weren’t entangled, because that would’ve made this a lot worse.

Kei feels so warm, he really does not want to get up. Maybe he would get away with staying here alone with Yamaguchi wrapped around him for the rest of eternity.

No, Kei thinks, and feels guilty for thinking that way. Just friends.

He brings his hand up to Yamaguchi’s face, and he can’t see it because of the angle, but he wishes he could, and brushes Yamaguchi’s hair behind his ear a few times before gently poking his cheek. “Yamaguchi,” he says, poking again.

Yamaguchi stirs, then pushes himself up with his arms, and is propped up above Kei, and they’re so close, he can feel his hot breath against his face.

Yamaguchi’s eyes finally clear of sleep, and he seems like he finally registers the position they’re in, but instead of moving, he just stares.

Fucking hell.

“Um,” Kei says, pushing himself up on his elbows abruptly, his face burning as Yamaguchi crawls off of him.

“Mm, sorry,” Yamaguchi says, brushing his hair out of his face. 

Kei is too focused on the inside of his pants to respond.

\--

When they get home, Yamaguchi offers for Kei to sleep over that night.

“The new episode came out today,” Yamaguchi says as he turns off the lights in his living room, putting mugs of tea down on the coffee table in front of the couch where Kei sat. Yamaguchi clicks some buttons on the remote, bringing up the new episode of the anime they had been watching on the TV as he scrambles to find a blanket for them to share on the couch.

As the episode begins playing, Kei scoots over for Yamaguchi to sit next to him on the couch, sitting close enough for the entire sides of their bodies to touch. Yamaguchi pulls the blanket over them and turns all of his attention to the screen.

Kei’s eyes sure were on the screen, but he was in no way paying attention. Had Yamaguchi always sat this close when they watched stuff together? Why was Yamaguchi always so warm? He wants Yamaguchi to put his head on his shoulder.

And then, with a sharp intake of a breath, Kei feels a brush of skin against his left pinky, which was settled under the blanket on his thigh, and his heartbeat skyrockets in a split second. He swallows and stays deadly still, keeping his eyes trained on the screen in front of them. It’s so bright when the lights are off, he has to strain his eyes.

The skin continues, and Kei can recognize it as Yamaguchi’s pinky, and now it’s not just a brush of skin against skin, Yamaguchi’s pinky is burning it’s way into Kei’s, like it has a purpose, and Kei realizes he’s doing this. Yamaguchi is  _ doing  _ this and doing it with a purpose. 

Kei can barely breathe, can barely feel anything but Yamaguchi’s hand, now etching further in its track over the back of Kei’s hand. Another finger is added, and another, and another, until Kei feels all five fingers enveloping the back of his hand.

No, that isn’t enough, not at all, and Kei knows now, he knows that it’s okay when he flips his hand over and traces Yamaguchi’s palm with his nails until pressing their palms together, and wow, his palm was probably really sweaty, and Yamaguchi could probably feel it, but Yamaguchi’s hands are so soft. They’re so soft when they slowly close around Kei’s, and how had Kei lived his entire life not knowing how this felt?

Yamaguchi’s shoulders untense, and Kei hears a long breath release from his mouth to his left.

He takes the chance and glances over at him. Yamaguchi’s eyes were trained on the TV, but were definitely not on the TV. 

Kei looks back at the TV, listening to Yamaguchi’s breathing, uneven, he was probably conscious of the way he was breathing at the sound of it. He feels Yamaguchi brush his thumb against Kei’s, and that’s it.

“Tadashi,” Kei says, and his voice is so unsteady, scared, and breathless, as he turns his head to Yamaguchi.

Yamaguchi turns to him, finally, and his eyes peer up at Kei, and they’re an inch apart.

Kei wasn’t as scared anymore, wasn’t as guilty. Yamaguchi held his hand, and that was enough to know.

He leans in, or maybe Yamaguchi does, and suddenly their lips are touching with a gasp. Who even gasped? It was probably both of them. They pulled back almost immediately after the first touch, it was more like just a press of lips rather than a kiss, and now they’re staring at each other again, searching the other’s eyes. This was new, and this was scary, but it was okay.

They lean forward again, connecting their lips, and this time, they stayed together, they didn’t pull back.

Kei releases a sigh through his nose, shuts his eyes, and untangles his hand from Yamaguchi’s, grasping blindly to hold onto his shoulders.

And then their lips are moving, shifting, trying to find more of whatever they’re searching for. Kei thinks they found it, whatever it is, because Yamaguchi’s lips are soft, maybe a little chapped, but perfect, and he’s warm, and he’s holding onto him for dear life.

Yamaguchi tilts his head at an angle where he bumps into Kei’s glasses, and Kei is mortified for a split second, but then Yamaguchi draws back for a second, and he looks almost sleepy, his eyes half lidded and his face flushed and his breathing so long and relaxed but heavy, and he pushes himself up, shifts a bit, and then he’s swinging a leg over Kei’s lap, and holy fuck holy fuck holy shit Kei is going to die and Yamaguchi is practically straddling him on the couch of his living room.

Yamaguchi slowly, gingerly, gently lifts his hands up on either side of Kei’s face and takes his glasses off of his face, tosses them onto the cushion next to them, and then he’s kissing Kei again.

Kei’s brain felt like mush, but somewhere in the back of his mind, he was wondering: does he even know how to kiss? Does Yamaguchi? He didn’t have the answer, he just knew that whatever angle their lips were slotted together at felt really good and warm and he wanted more.

His hands are shaking, looking for some stability, and they find it on Yamaguchi’s sides, and oh my god he’s feeling his ribs.

Although the soft fabric of Yamaguchi’s shirt is in the way, he can rub his fingers against the indents in between each one, and he knows his kissing is getting sloppier because he’s focusing on Yamaguchi’s ribs beneath his hands instead, but he doesn’t care, and Yamaguchi most likely doesn’t, either.

“We’re home!”

And then Yamaguchi is throwing himself off of Tsukishima, putting his glasses back on, getting under the blanket as quick as humanly possible, and then the lights are being turned on and Yamaguchi’s mother and sister are in the room, and Kei is trying to think of how to form a single fucking sentence, but he genuinely can not.

“Oh, are you guys watching Jujutsu Kaisen?” Ichida, Yamaguchi’s younger sister asks, taking a sip from her soda and taking a seat on the floor in front of them. When neither of them answer, she turns around and furrows her eyebrows at them. “Hello? Have your brains run away, or something?”

“Yes,” Yamaguchi says, clears his throat at how squeaky it sounded, and says, “Yes, we’re watching Jujutsu Kaisen.”

“Weirdos,” Ichida mutters as she turns her head back towards the screen.

So, maybe they got interrupted, but at least Kei can die knowing he has felt Yamaguchi’s ribs with his very own hands, and kissed him, no -- made out with him on Yamaguchi’s living room couch.

And he will continue to feel Yamaguchi’s ribs, and will continue to kiss him later, and the next day, and the next, and the next.


End file.
